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Cerberus (Mass Effect)
Cerberus is a human-supremacist paramilitary organization in the Mass Effect ''series headed by the Illusive Man. While declaring themselves as being dedicated to the defence and advancement of human interests on the galactric stage, in reality their goal is establish human supremacy over the other races in the Milky Way. The Citadel Council and the Systems Alliance designate it a terrorist organization due to it's multiple violent and xenophobic acts, though not everyone in Cerberus is malevolent in this way. The organization served as minor antagonists in ''Mass Effect, a partial ally in Mass Effect 2 and major antagonists in Mass Effect 3. Overall, the entire group serves as the secondary antagonists of the series. History According to Admiral Kahoku, with information he purchased from the Shadow Broker, Cerberus started out as a Systems Alliance Black Ops group, having complete access to Alliance activities. However, the group went rogue and broke away from the Alliance, conducting unethical experiments in an attempt to create super soldiers. In reality, the origins of the organization can be traced to the First Contact War. It was founded by Jack Harper, a human mercenary who fought in the First Contact War. During this time, he and his partners, Ben Hislop and Eva Core, discovered a conspiracy led by turian general Desolas Arterius to transform the turians into supersoldiers using an ancient alien artifact. While they managed to thwart the general's plan with the help of his brother Saren, Hislop and Core lost their lives in the process. This made Harper realise that while possessing knowledge and wealth, the galaxy was a dangerous place and humanity was about to enter dark times. As such, he released a manifesto calling for an army, a 'Cerberus', to protect humanity from any threat beyond the Charon Relay, declaring that an alien attempt at human genocide was an inevitability. The manifesto was derided as 'survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man', and quickly fell off the media radar. However, in 2165, terrorists raided the SSV Geneva and stole antimatter; the sole figure arrested during the incident named his sponsor 'Cerberus'. From there, the organization continued to expand, gaining funding via a series of front companies and private backers, while also experiencing an increase in recruitment and conducting savage experiments on human and alien subjects, among other acts of terrorism. In Mass Effect, Shepard can disrupt Cerberus operations and may discover the organization may be indirectly (and in some cases directly) involved in some side missions. Apart from this, the organization serves no purpose in the main story. In Mass Effect 2, Cerberus uses its resources to fund the Lazarus Project to bring Commander Shepard back to life after he/she was killed by the Collectors. The project was headed by Miranda Lawson, one of Cerberus' top operatives. Once Shepard was revived, the Illusive Man explains that the reason Cerberus brought him/her back to life was that human colonies have been disappearing. The Citadel Council refuses to investigate but Cerberus is the only organization willing to take action. During the game Shepard can discover more unethical experiments done by Cerberus, such as their research on Pragia (though they claim this was a cell that had "gone rogue") and Project Overlord. However, it is here that Shepard is also introduced to members of Cerberus (such as the aforementioned Miranda Lawson and also Jacob Taylor, Kelly Chambers and others), who are well-intentioned and pro-human rather than anti-alien and who have joined to advance human interests and help humanity succeed on a galactic stage (rather than because they're the sadistic murderers, power-hungry extremists, or raging xenophobes that most other members of Cerberus are). In Mass Effect 3, Cerberus searches for a way to take control of the Reapers, in order to establish human dominance in the galaxy. The organization has gone as far to use Reaper technology to indoctrinate war refugees and create soldiers loyal to the Illusive Man. Shepard first encounter Cerberus on Mars, looking for data on a Prothean superweapon. Commander Shepard is able to stop them and acquire the data on the weapon, which the Alliance begins constructing in order to destroy the Reapers. Throughout the game, Cerberus attempts to undermine Alliance operations and Commander Shepard's mission to the unite the Galaxy against the Reapers. Eventually, an attack is launched on the Cerberus Headquarters by the Alliance, effectively ending the organization. Later, the Illusive Man dies onboard the Citadel, putting a definite end to Cerberus. Trivia *As a security measure, the Illusive Man does not allow the different Cerberus cells to share information with one another or know much of anything about them beyond that they exist. This explains why many members of Cerberus are ignorant to the atrocities the organization as a whole have committed. *As a power-hungry terrorist organization with large resources and advanced equipment that is extremely widespread and also named after a monster from Greek Mythology, they are similar to the group HYDRA from ''Marvel Comics. '' **Likewise, their predominantly white and black color scheme, being in a space setting, pronounced hatred of non-humans, power-lust, ruthlessness, and having many sympathetic members who are delusional about the organization's malevolence and ignorant to their atrocities, are all strikingly similar to the Galactic Empire from ''Star Wars. ''And like the Empire, they have many defectors. 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